Ai Weiwei creates giant map of China from baby formulaHong Kong (AFP) May 17, 2013 -
A map of China made from more than 1,800 cans of baby formula created by dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei went on show in Hong Kong Friday, reflecting the controversy over mainland demand for milk powder.

A surge in demand for formula in China sparked by fears over the safety of domestic milk powder has seen shop shelves around the world cleared out by Chinese buyers and unofficial exporters.

"The piece is related to several problems," Ai Weiwei told AFP on Friday.

"One is the recent ban on mainland residents buying milk powder and bringing it back to China, and then there is the issue of why Chinese mainlanders go to Hong Kong to buy milk powder."

In Hong Kong, anger about visitor purchases saw the city ban travellers taking out more than 1.8 kilograms of formula from March 1 this year. Banners at the border warn of HK$500,000 (US$64,000) fines and two-year jail sentences for offenders.

Demand from the mainland is driven by memories of a 2008 scandal over Chinese formula tainted with the industrial chemical melamine which killed six children and affected more than 300,000 others.

Distrust grew last year when another domestic manufacturer's formula was found to be contaminated with carcinogens, despite official pledges to clean up the industry.

"We know that on the mainland food safety is a very serious problem. It largely related to a lack of supervision and moral decay within industry," said Ai.

"Hong Kong people make profits from these problems, and are also victims," he added.

Executive director of the Para Site art space Cosmin Costinas, which is hosting the installation as part of a wider exhibition and has collaborated with Ai in the past, told AFP that all the cans of milk powder in the exhibit had been bought in Hong Kong.

There will be no extra security to stop them being stolen, he said.

In Australia, Chinese customers have been blamed for a shortage of formula in supermarkets and pharmacies, causing some outlets to ration sales, with limits also imposed in Europe after a run on baby milk powder.

China is "by far" the world's largest market for formula, says consumer research group Euromonitor. Breastfeeding rates are low -- just 28 percent according to a 2012 UNICEF report -- due to time limits on maternity leave and aggressive marketing of formula.

Disgusted by corrupt local leaders, an angry miner picks up a shotgun. A migrant worker returning home looks to armed robbery to escape a life of relentless bleakness. A pretty receptionist at a sauna is driven to the limit when a gangster tries to rape her. And a young man drifts nightmarishly from job to job to try to make ends meet.

These tableaux would not be out of place in a gritty European art-house movie, but at the Cannes Film Festival, they feature in one of the boldest works to emerge from China in years.

The only Chinese contestant in the running for this year's Palme d'Or, "A Touch of Sin" (Tian Zhu Ding) reaped enthusiastic applause at a press screening on Thursday.

It portrays China in the throes of brutal change -- a damaged society where corrupt officials, petty criminals and greedy bosses from Hong Kong and Taiwan hold sway.

Living in the cracks are the country's anonymous army of migrant workers. Uprooted, alienated and exploited, they struggle to repair damaged relationships with their distant families, or save up for the pilgrimage home at the Lunar New Year.

In one shocking scene, the sauna receptionist is battered around the head by a club of banknotes wielded by her assailant who screams: "I will kill you with my money!"

In another, Hong Kong businessmen are bizarrely entertained by teen prostitutes dressed in sexed-up Communist uniforms, who march around in thigh-high boots as they chant a proletarian anthem.

All four narratives are inspired by tales that happened in real life, and make reference to events -- including a high-speed train crash and suicides in foreign-owned factories -- that have darkened China's reputation around the world.

When the trailer of the film was uploaded on Wednesday to Youku -- China's Youtube -- the message boards buzzed.

"I don't know if it will be shown in China ...," wrote a person under the user name anqionganchouannongcun.

"It can be shown at Cannes, but certainly not in Chinese theaters," predicted a user posting under the name blooper on China's Twitter-like service, Sina Weibo.

Not so, said director Jia Zhangke.

In an interview with AFP, he said the film has not only been officially approved. It was also part-funded by a state-owned organisation, the Shanghai Film Group Corporation. And it will be seen in China uncensored.

Asked whether "A Touch of Sin" was for foreign consumption only, he said: "The film is going to be seen in China.

"I got the authorisation before coming to Cannes, which is good news for me. The version that will be presented in China is the one you have just seen."

"A Touch of Sin" is the seventh feature film made by the 43-year-old, who has a record of commentary on the social cost of China's dash for prosperity.

In 2006, he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for "Still Life," set in a town on the Yangtze River that is about to be drowned by the Three Gorges Dam project.

And in 2008, he was in the running for the Golden Palm with "24 City," about the bulldozing of an old factory to make way for luxury high-rises, throwing thousands out of work.

Jia says the film's English title pays tribute to "A Touch of Zen," a 1971 martial arts film by Taiwan's King Hu.

That movie is a classic in a genre known as wuxia, where the central character has no resort other than violence to defend himself, he said.

Asked whether the timing and context of "A Touch of Sin" boosted its chances at Cannes, Jia laughed and said he was only thinking right now of getting the maximum number of people to see the movie "and the message it conveys."

"Today, we are entering an era in China where one is one's own media and there is huge discussion on Chinese twitter about things happening in China," said Jia.

"If it sparks discussion and reactions of all kinds, that would give me greatest happiness."

Change in China 'inevitable', says blind activist ChenOslo (AFP) May 14, 2013
Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng said Tuesday that change in his country was "inevitable" but should be the work of the Chinese themselves rather than be imposed from the outside.
"China will undergo a transformation, this is inevitable and in fact this has already begun," said Chen, a blind self-taught lawyer who dramatically escaped house arrest last year.
"We cannot wait ... read more

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency.
All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement